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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Simple eco-print and dyeing 簡單環保植物印染

This weekend I did two pieces of nuno felt scarves and tried different eco-print and dyeing. The left one is done with eucalytus (桉樹或稱尤加利) barks & leaves and the right one is onion dyeing.

日前做了兩件nuno felt 圍巾為的是要實驗環保植物印染法. 我在路邊拾了些桉樹葉及樹皮. 一件用樹葉, 一件用洋蔥衣, 很簡單的, Yesterday I picked some fallen barks and leaves for eco-dyeing. Indeed I'm not sure if it's eucalytus as leaves are long different from others. The bark looks like eucalytus. Anyway they can be used for dyeing.
I made two nuno felt scarves in a run. I laid one sheet, wet it then cover with bubble wrap and laid another sheet over the bubble wrap. Rolled in one go. I was a bit lazy but this kills a bird with one stone. As both were thin I only rolled for a while. Saved energy !

先做好兩件nuno felt 圍巾, 浸在混有白醋的水中一刻, 這有助上色.

After all felted. Washed throughly and soaked into water with some vinegar for a while. I scattered on the scarf with some leaves and barks as well some onion skins then bundled it with cotton thread. I steamed it with a rice cooker for around 45 minutes and leave it overnight. During steaming the room was full of pleasant fragrance of eucalytus. Sort of theraphy ! 一條圍巾包紮著桉樹葉,樹皮及零碎的洋蔥衣, 以電飯鍋蒸45分鐘, 待十小時後解開. Next morning I was so eager to see how it turned. Slightly unwrapped a little. Oh, got colored. I unwrapped the whole bundle. It turned out onion skin has strong brown color than barks. Leaves have some greenish. It looks like this. The middle brown effect is of onion skins, more bold. The other nuno felt scarf I tried with onion skin dyeing.I put all the onion skins in a new short panty host and boiled it for 45-min. Taking out the skins, I put the scarf and simmered for 30-min till it cool down.

用洋蔥衣漂染的先熱一鍋水加有洋蔥衣, 煮30分鐘, 取去渣滓, 放下圍巾慢火熱 30分鐘, 待涼, 取出, 稍過水便成.

Onion skins bring out strong brownish.

I'm not sure if this is the correct way to make eco-print or plant dyeing. For onion skin dyeing the pot I only added some salt. I don't have any mordant in hand nor any knowledge about mordant. This is my second experiment of eco-dyeing. It's fun and environmental friendly. Will read more info and try to do with other leaves and bundle for a longer time to have bold color.

These are a great start. Yes that is a eucalyptus tree. I have some of the dark red-brown bark also and it dyes beautifully . When you heat it, it must be to boiling and cook for about 1 hr.when using the leaves with it. I have soaked the red bark in cold water for a week then dyed with it without heat (Eco-dye, cold bath method.It also worked well.Eucalyptus takes a lot of experimenting to really know what to do with it in your location. There are so many varieties and colors. Visit my blog anytime and feel free to comment dipandstain.blogspot.com

Interesting experiment and great results. I recently did some improvised eco print, but still waiting to unwrap. I hope it will be at least half as good as your colors. Unfortunatelly there are no eucalyptus trees in Lithuania.

I'm so surprised to learn that onion skins contain so much color. I spent another night looking at youtube videos about felting! I think my next step is to obtain some bubble wrap. This nuno felting is very cool!

I love how the onion skin one turned out. I never would have thought about the eco-options for dyeing. I love stopping by your blog, you're always doing something amazing!Adriannewww.happyhourprojects.com

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